How heartbreak at Oklahoma State fueled No. 13 BYU's 6-0 start

PROVO — The season came to an end a year ago in Stillwater, Oklahoma, but BYU football's final ticks on its first season in the Big 12 didn't come down to the 40-34 loss to then-No. 16 Oklahoma State in overtime to fall to 5-7.

There were several moments leading up to what safety Tanner Wall called the "woulda-shoulda-coulda" of the 2023 season, when the Cougars saw their five-year bowl streak snapped.

But Wall can specifically recall that one, when the finality of the moment hit a group of seniors that wouldn't be back for another year and caused the rest of his team to look inward after giving up a 24-6 halftime lead — yes, he still remembers that score — before sitting bleary-eyed in the locker room next to Boone Pickens Stadium.

This isn't a traditional "revenge game" for BYU, now ranked No. 13 nationally after a 6-0 start before a Friday night tilt with the Cowboys (8:15 p.m. MDT, ESPN), who dropped to 3-3 with a third-straight loss in Big 12 play before last week's bye week.

The Cowboys are a shell of last year's team, with head coach Mike Gundy unable to commit to Alan Bowman as his starting quarter after throwing for 1,653 yards and 12 touchdowns with eight interceptions to open the season, and reigning Doak Walker Award winner Ollie Gordon II off to a slow start with just 384 yards and four touchdowns on 101 carries.

But BYU still remembers last year ahead of the first home game in the history of a four-game series that Oklahoma State leads 3-0.

"It was definitely motivating to start winter training in December while everyone else was getting ready for a bowl game," Wall said Monday after the Cougars' 41-19 win over Arizona. "That's a rough time, to really know that we've got to put it in our hands and turn things around if we didn't want to have a season like that again. That was definitely motivating."

You know the rest of the previous game, about how Gordon ran for 166 yards and five touchdowns as Oklahoma State led by as much as 27-24 with 53 seconds left before Will Ferrin's 48-yard field goal at the buzzer forced overtime in the ultimate loss.

"We came out and kind of let them off the hook, defensively," Wall said. "It was definitely a motivational factor through the offseason, just remembering that game and a couple of other games that we really kind of handed to the opponent. We let that fuel us in our training coming into this year."

Wall isn't the only one.

BYU ended last season on a five-game losing streak, but a home loss to Oklahoma in the home finale and that ultimate decision-day defeat to the Cowboys stand out among a stretch of infamy for plenty of players, coaches and staffers in the program.

"It was tough, man," BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. "It was kind of the last two games where you knew it was coming close to an end. We had awesome seniors who sacrificed a lot to be here, and the hard part was saying goodbye to them and not extending the season. ... They're hard work on this team kind of jumpstarted this year.

"I'm really proud of this team, but that was a sore spot for us. I'm not really worried about the revenge factor, as much as I want our guys to play good, clean football. If we can do that, I feel good about our chances, especially at home. But it's going to be a dogfight."

It all seems like water under the bridge now, with BYU's hot start potentially putting the team in the conversation for a Big 12 championship and College Football Playoff bid. But that stretch certainly motivated the Cougars during a longer offseason than each of the past five years.

"It always hurts to end the season like that," BYU receiver Chase Roberts said. "You never want to lose any games. Not being able to go to a bowl game instilled some fire in us. But coming into the season, we had a mindset of this is a different team, we've got leaders on this team who will step up.

"There was some fire that came from last year, but also we were going to do what we're doing this year, no matter what."

Related topics